European stocks falls for first session in 5 on profit-taking

European stocks fell Friday, backing off the 3-week high that was hit yesterday, while heading for the first daily loss in five, on profit-taking and growing concerns over a record surge in new coronavirus cases in the US.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.4% as of 11:02 GMT, after closing higher by 2% yesterday, posting the fourth straight daily gain, and hit a 3-week high of 368.85 points, after strong US jobs report for June.

The pan European index opened lower today, to head for the first loss in 5 days, with most European markets and sectors seeing red today.

The banking sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a drop by 2%, as most of the sector's stocks fell after yesterday's gains.

Reuters reported the number of new coronavirus cases in the US soared to 55,000 on Thursday, in the highest rate since the outbreak started.

The White House's infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has warned that the virus may have mutated to become more infectious than before.

S&P 500 futures fell more than 0.2%, after the index closed higher by 0.5% yesterday at Wall Street, the fourth daily gain, on hopes of a quick economic recovery after a strong jobs report.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.5%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.7%, Germany's DAX dipped 0.25%, and the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.8%.